Choosing the Ideal Pet Door for Your Home

How to Pick the Right Pet Door

The ideal pet door works with your home and yard layout, giving your pets all the access you want them to have. Use these tips to choose a pet door.

We want our pets to enjoy the great outdoors, but that doesn't mean that we want to always serve as their personal doormen. Dogs and cats enjoy going outside and back in as they please, and it's nice for them to have access to both the outdoors and indoors even when we aren't around to let them in our out. The easy answer is a pet door. Just like everything else, pet doors have become more advanced with technological developments. How do you choose ideal pet door that's just right for your home?

Assessing Your Outdoor Space

First, it's important to ensure that if you're giving your pet unsupervised access to the outdoors, that outdoor space is safe and secure. Fences that your dog can't jump over are essential, as is a clean water bowl and some shady areas outside. You should also make sure your yard is safe from fleas and ticks.

Pet doors can be placed in sliding glass doors, standard doors, windows, and even walls. Do you have a sliding door leading out to your pet's preferred outdoor space? In that case, you'll want to install a patio pet door that was designed specifically for sliding glass doors. Consider a pet door with a safety mechanism built in so that your pet can come into your house whenever they want, but trespassers cannot.

Considering Your Surroundings and Pet's Size

Do you have a baby in the house? Are there often other neighborhood pets or animals (such as raccoons) around your yard? Do you have multiple pets, some that you want using the door and others you do not? In that case, an electronic pet door would be the best choice for your home. These doors are equipped with a sensor and come with "collar keys." You attach a collar key to the pet you want to give access to the outdoors, so other pets, animals, and babies cannot open the door and sneak in or out.

Do you have a smaller pet, like a cat or a small dog? If weather is not an issue and you often have the door open with a screen in the doorway, you might want a pet door made specifically for screens. These are some of the simplest and easiest to install, but are not generally recommended for larger dogs, since they rarely come in large sizes.

If weather is an issue, for example if you live in a very cold climate, you want to look for a pet door that has more than one layer for insulation that completely seals and that is UV protected. There are doors available that are specifically made for low temperature climates that are wind resistant. That way, the heat in your house isn't going out with your pet.

Pet Door Styles

Concerned about the environment? Pet doors today come in such a huge variety that you can even buy a model that is eco-friendly, in case you like to maintain a "green" lifestyle. These doors are made from materials that are completely recyclable and environmentally friendly, so you don't have to feel guilty about your new purchase.

If you want your pet to exit through a window, guess what? They make pet doors for those places, too. Clearly you don't want your Great Dane climbing in and out of a window, but maybe it's easier to let kitty exit that way rather than cut a hole into your wooden door.

It's also important to consider not just the location of the pet door, but the size and shape of your pet. Some pet doors are short and wide, but most dogs are not short and wide. If you're not sure of what size door you need, you should measure your pet in a standing position from the floor to the top of their shoulder. If you have a cat, generally the small sized doors work just fine. The point is, you want your pet to be able to come and go comfortably, without having to squeeze through.

Once you have your pet door in place, your best friend can enjoy both the great outdoors and the comfort of home at their own convenience.

More on Pet Supplies and Outfitting Your Home

This post is very useful as my family recently adopted a pet. Having no experience in raising a pet, we were looking for a door with an entrance for our pet (pet door) so it can access outdoor space. Can anyone suggest, where I can find such doors to purchase.

Jason Strong2014-12-09T19:23:40

My wife and I just got a new puppy and he makes us so very happy. We are trying to make our home a more comfortable place for him to live, and feel that having a nice pet door would help with that. We don't know what kind of pet door to get, but this has some good insights on what to look for in a quality one.

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